


Dolls

by Destieldest



Category: One Piece
Genre: Child Abuse, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Slave Luffy, Torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-16
Updated: 2016-03-12
Packaged: 2018-05-20 23:33:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6029679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Destieldest/pseuds/Destieldest
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Luffy had been a slave for most of his life. So long that he had lost his personality and his free will. He was simply a living doll in the Celestial Dragon's hands. That is until he meets Ace who sees something in him that everyone else missed. Ace promises to save Luffy no matter what, even if it means defying the Celestial Dragons themselves. But will he be able to keep that promise?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! So I actually reposted this story from Fanfic.net. Its also called Dolls but its by q.feuille7 It is currently on chapter 6 and ongoing! If you want to read the ahead story that's awesome! Or you can totally read it here and I promise to update every Monday. Either way I really hope you like it and tell me how I did.

 

Luffy stared out the window expressionlessly. The sun had yet to rise leaving the sky dark and grey. Moody clouds covered the early morning stars leaving only blankness in its place. It looked like it was going to rain today. A flash of emotion crossed his face as he imagined its feeling on his skin, but it was gone as quickly as it had come.

Loud sounds from the ballroom floated into the hallway but he ignored them. The Tenryuubito who owned him were hosting an elaborate dinner party. He had been up two nights preparing and cleaning. And now that it was here he was expected to stay up all night to work there. Although slaves were conditioned never to show emotion or human needs he was exhausted. He didn’t think he could keep it hidden any longer.

“Hey little boy come here.”

He turned around to see two drunk nobles stumble down the hallway. It was an order, he could tell that much. Still he stayed in his spot near the window. This only angered the drunk couple further as they fumbled over to him spilling their drinks in the process.

“What the hell, when we give you an order you follow it.” The women screeched slapping him clumsily. Although considering how drunk she was the blow slid off easily.

“Can you understand us?” The man yelled at Luffy. He spoke slowly and loudly as if speaking to a foreigner with limited language skills.

Luffy merely blinked at them, his big brown eyes empty.

“I don’t think he can understand us.” The man told his wife, still yelling.

She made cooing sounds as she ruffled his hair, acting as if he was a small pet. A sharp contrast towards her angry pose a minute ago.

“Look, he’s so cute.”

The man scoffed, “You must have drunk way too much, he’s a slave remember. There not supposed to be cute, their just there.”

She made a face imitating a spoiled child, “but all of ours are old and gross. I want a cute little one like this.”

“To do what with?” He threw his hands up in the air staggering a bit in his drunkenness.

“We can probably think of something’s.” She said leaning closer to him with a flirty smile.

Luffy toned them out instead staring at the wall beyond them. It was going to rain, he was almost sure of that. He doubted the sun was going to rise at all today. That was too bad.

All the higher class lived on top of hill, their elaborate mansions shoved together up here so they could look down on the town. Far below them the poor town’s people struggled, scraping together whatever resourced the Tenryuubito didn’t take for themselves. It was kind of weird to think about. They were dying of starvation while only a mile away the nobles had so much food they were literally burning it.

In front of him the noble couple fell onto the ground, drunkenly making out.

“What are you doing out here? “A shrill voice demanded. It was the slave station manager, Luffy could never remember his name. Not like he ever tried. Ignoring the drunk couple on the ground he yanked him along by his slave collar. To Luffy’s dismay he led him back to the ballroom. It was packed with sweaty rich people and smelled heavily of alcohol. The music made his ears ring.

He was shoved roughly against a wall as his collar was hooked up to a leash tied around the pillar. Ensuring there would be no escape for him now. He did as he was told sitting back against the wall gazing emptily at the crowed ahead. Occasionally a noble would come up to him pinching his cheeks and squealing in surprise when they stretched further than ordinary. It made no difference to Luffy what they did, after all why should it.

“Hi there.”

He wondered if it had started raining yet. Maybe the clouds would never go away, they were stuck there forever. That was a scary thought.

“HI THERE!” Spoken a little louder this time causing Luffy to look up surprised.

In front of him stood a young man, teenager probably, Luffy had no idea what qualified as ages. He had chin length black hair and a splatter of freckles across his nose. What really made him stand out were his clothes. While most people were dressed elegantly and appropriately he wore only boots, black shorts and an orange hat. And unlike the other people in this room he didn’t seem to be so drunk he undressed himself. In fact he didn’t seem drunk at all. He crouched down leaning back onto his heels in front of Luffy giving him a big grin.

“What are you up to?”

Luffy blinked at him confused. Who was he expecting a response from? There was no one around him. After a few moments of silence he spoke again directly at Luffy.

“My names Ace, what’s yours?”

Luffy blinked, this time however clearing out the vacant look in his eyes. He was starting to get the uncomfortable feeling he was supposed to do something. 

“Not much of a talker huh?” The man continued, “That’s okay, luckily for us I can do the talking for both of us.” He grinned crookedly at Luffy. “Jump in any time you feel like it.”  Maneuvering his body he leaned up against the wall next to Luffy. He turned as far as his leash would let him, still confused what this man was going. Did he not know Luffy was a slave? Maybe he was confused?

“This is some party isn’t it? Although you look a little bored, I guess when I was a kid I didn’t like things like this either. I still don’t” He laughed making Luffy jump. Despite all the riches they surrounded themselves with, they didn’t tend to laugh very often. Unless it was at other people’s misfortune. As the man continued to carry on his one sided conversation Luffy’s attention once again began to wonder. The attention was no longer on him, this was back to where he was comfortable with. Outside he could hear the distant rumble of thunder brewing overhead. It sounded close, he wondered if lighting could strike a Tenryuubito’s house or if it was too scared. He had heard once that whenever it got really close they made a slave go up there and try to get struck instead to protect the house.

Without warning the man leaned over and flicked his forehead. Luffy was use to pain but turned his attention back anyways. Pain and abrupt actions were a sign the person wanted Luffy to look at them despite if he was listening or not.

“I was losing you there,” The man laughed, but quieter than last time. “Try to stay in present okay? You look like you were a million miles away.” He sighed, “Let’s try something else, I say something and you nod yes or no.”

Once again Luffy fidgeted uncomfortably. It felt like was expected to do something in response. Was this man actually talking to him? Even worse Luffy didn’t know how to respond. The first rule of slaves was that they were to stay quiet. If this guy got frustrated would Luffy get into trouble? Fearing the worst he did something he hadn’t done in a while. He focused on the man’s lips furrowing his brow slightly as he tried to pay attention to what he was saying, stop tuning the words out like he usually did. 

“This way you don’t have to listen to my endless prattle.” He stared expectantly at Luffy.

It was no use, he had no idea what he was supposed to do. What did prattle mean?

However Ace didn’t seem angry in the slightest, instead he reached over and gently placed his hands on either side of Luffy’s head forcing him to shake his head up and down and then left and right. “See there you go?”

That confused him even further, he didn’t see anything.

“This party is pretty boring isn’t it?” He stared at Luffy expectantly.

Luffy bobbed his head figuring it was what the man wanted. Sure enough a huge grin broke out across his face as he gave him a thumbs up.

“It smells too much like alcohol in here don’t it.” He asked crinkling his nose as he stared around at all the drunk party dwellers.

Luffy nodded automatically this time in actual agreement. He hated the smell, it was disgusting and it made people act strange. Without thinking he leaned in closer to him taking a quick sniff . He didn’t smell like alcohol, instead he smelt like warmth and meat. He smelt good, Luffy decided.

He raised his eyebrow a smile quickly growing on his lips. “Were you smelling me for alcohol?” He looked amused more than anything.

Luffy didn’t meet his eyes and instead stared down at the floor surprised at himself.

 “Do you remember my name?”

He shook his head this time, trying out the alien gesture. He had sort of forgotten people had names. Or why they were important.

“It’s Ace, Portgas D. Ace. Nice to meet you.”  He paused for a moment looking Luffy up and down. “And you look like a … Smokey to me.” Ace laughed once again at the bazar look Luffy shot him. He put his hands up in surrender, “Okay, defiantly not a Smokey. So what is your name?”

Luffy was unsure if this was a nodding situation or not so he simply remained silent. Ace seemed to understand as he stood up stretching.

“Come on Luffy lets go somewhere else, this place is too loud to think.” He leaned over and unclipped his collar pulling Luffy to a standing positions. He swayed slightly on his feet as Ace steadied him.

He wasn’t used to walking with someone else like this. Usually they just didn’t seem to think him capable of walking himself so they would either drag him or if they were in a hurry they would just pick him up and haul him over. They would never tell him where they were going or why. One second he would be standing there and the next they would grab his arm and physically pull him over to where they wanted him to be.

This was different. Ace grabbed the hem of his shirt making sure they didn’t get separated as the two of them narrowly squeezed between the intoxicated upper-class. He would occasionally elbow them out of the way if they didn’t move fast enough making the corners of Luffy’s mouth twitch.

But much to his dismay Ace stopped in front of one of the slave managers. He pointed to Luffy fighting to be heard over the pounding band in the background who had moved from classical to hardcore rock sometime around midnight. Without realizing it Luffy shifted closer to Ace, hiding partially behind his back to avoid the manager. If Ace noticed he didn’t say anything.

“What’s his name?”

“How should I know?”

“Look it up.” Ace insisted as the violinist shattered his instrument behind them in a fit of artistic passion.

He grumbled but flipped through his sheets anyways. “It’s Luffy.”

Luffy jumped in shock hearing his name again. It had been so long he had almost forgotten it. He couldn’t remember the last time it had come out of someone else’s mouth.

“Cool thanks,” Ace waved as he slipped his hand into Luffy’s gently tugging him out from behind his back.

“Where are you going with him?” he man sputtered, “He is supposed to stay there for the rest of the night in case the nobles get bored.”

“No way,” Ace objected, “That sounds boring, care to stop me.” He smirked dangerously at the manager, a very different smile then the one he showed Luffy. The man clearly knew something about Ace Luffy did not as he shrunk back offering no further protest.

Luffy tightened his grip on Ace’s hand as the two of them slipped out of the ballrooms doors and into the empty hallways.

Breaking another record for tonight Luffy made a decision. He liked Ace.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luffy and Ace get to know each other better

 

**Luffy-10 Ace-17**

Ace glanced over at Luffy in concern, the little boy still hadn’t said one word to him. Although his demeanor did greatly improve the further away they got from the ballroom. Ace honesty couldn’t blame him, he hated that stupid room just as much. These prissy stuck up people had no idea how to throw a party. Now pirates on the other hand, they were notorious partiers.

He glanced around at the decorated hallways and walls suddenly feeling claustrophobic. He desperately wanted to get out of here, but the inhibitor collar on Luffy prevented him from leaving the building. If he went too far out of his boundary it would detonate. The thought made the fire just below his skin squirm angrily. What sort of depraved monster would do this to a kid? Ace sighed forcing himself to calm down before his body temperature began to rise. The answer went without saying.

“Hey Luffy, I have an idea.” The little kid stopped to look up at him curiously.

Without warning Ace reached down and lifted Luffy onto his shoulders. Surprised all he could do was hang on as Ace broke out into a run. He led them through the twisted hallways until he found the stairwell. Despite how huge the mansion looked on the outside it was even bigger on the inside. He must have ran up at least 20 flights of stairs before finally coming to the attic level. One of his hands wrapped around Luffy protectively as the other heled him climb to ladder onto to the roof.

The darkened sky was grey and brooding and seemed to stretch on forever. Somewhere in the distance he could hear lightning. Way out across the island where the land seemed to meet the clouds there was a small strip of sky glowing orange with the light of the rising sun.

Stepping outside onto the slanted roof he carefully set Luffy down beside him. He almost laughed at how big his eyes had grown.

“Has it been a long time since you were let outside?”

Luffy nodded enthusiastically as he took in the surroundings.

Ace for his part could only imagine what that would be like. He had been raised outside, grew up in the forests and slept under the stars whenever he felt like it. He didn’t know what he would do if someone tried to take that away from him.

“Okay Luffy.” He said sitting down, “Here’s your chance to say something. Nobody will hear you up here.”

Luffy blinked at him confused.

“Whatever you want to say, surely there must be something right?” Ace didn’t doubt it had probably been years since Luffy had last talked, but he had faith the kid knew how too. He bet in some parallel universe he was quite the chatterbox.

Luffy opened his mouth then closed it unsure. “Ace?” He finally said after a moment. His voice was soft and gave out slightly.

Still Ace beamed feeling pride swell up in his chest. He felt like an overprotective father who just watched their kid take their first step.

“And your name is…”

“Luffy?” The little boy said almost as if asking Ace if he was correct. Ace cheered throwing his arms up into the air in celebration. He could see the boy’s cheeks turn just the tiniest bit red at the praise.  

“So Luffy? How did you end up being a slave?” Luffy turned and blinked at Ace, clearly not understanding the question. As far as he was concerned he was a slave, there was no other alternative. Thinking back it was nearly impossible to imagine a time when he was anything else. A memory tugged painfully at his heart as if demanding to be remembered. But the harder he tried the further away it became.

Ace watched Luffy struggle as hints of emotions flickered over his face. Years of training and conditioning had turned Luffy into a complacent doll. He was exactly what the nobles wanted, a lifeless doll. Something less then human who obeyed orders without thought. Up until now they must have believed they had succeeded in breaking him.

 Ace however disagreed. Luffy wasn’t broken, he was far from it. In order to stay alive his personality had been suppressed. He had been treated like an animal for so long his mindset had shifted to perceive himself that way. But throughout it all Luffy managed to stay defiant. Unlike the other slaves who followed their masters orders Luffy refused to obey. He shut them out refusing to bow to them or their ridicules orders. What others saw as simply a complacent slave Ace recognized it as rebellion. He was sure with a little encouragement his true personality would resurface. And Ace would be there to watch the whole glorious event unfold. He could already see their faces, blotchy and red with anger as Luffy told them to go stick it, or hopefully something to that effect. 

Ace turned to look at Luffy realizing he was probably getting ahead of himself. Before that could happen Luffy had a long way to go. Maybe his time spent with the Tenryuubito wouldn’t be as boring as he initially thought.

**WHATDIDTHECOWSAYTOTHECAR????????????????????????????????????????????????????MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVEOVER (I think I’m pretty funny)**

The next day proved to be a difficult one for the poor hung over nobles. Ace watched them trying his hardest not to laugh as they stumbled about snapping at their attendants and leaning heavily against the walls as if the world was about to cave in. Personally Ace was no stranger to hangovers, none of the Whitebeard pirates were. They knew how to party harder than anyone in the entire ocean. Still he felt no pity for these pathetic people. They were given more freedom than anyone else in the whole world, yet the squandered it. They didn’t know the first thing about what the government had given them or how people murdered each other just for a taste of what they had. None of them had to earn it and thus they couldn’t truly understand it.

“Ace sir, the Tenryuubito will see you know.” Ace looked up as one of the slave’ entered the room. She was stuttering badly clearly frightened of him, and his vast reputation as a pirate. Every time she moved the chains attached to her ankles rattled loudly, echoing off the empty walls.

Ace frowned at the thought of what he was attempting to do. If Oyaji hadn’t ordered him to be here there is no way he ever would have associated with these people. But he owed that man his life, even if it meant being forced to negotiate with the scum of the earth.

“Lead the way.” He said with mock enthusiasm as he followed her through the maze of hallways. At first he tried to keep track of the turns and corridors they went down but soon it turned into a big blur and he quickly gave up.

Eventually they ended up in a huge stone chamber with high arched ceilings. A single man sat at the center of it on an elaborate throne. He was clearly quite old and exceedingly stuck up considering he had built himself a throne room.  He ushered for Ace to come closer which he eventually did, while holding back a glare.

“You must be the second division commander Whitebeard mentioned.” He spoke without looking Ace in the eye. Instead his gaze was fixed sternly at a point just above his head. As if Ace wasn’t worthy of his full attention.

“I must be.” Ace agreed trying to hold back his sarcasm.

“Did you enjoy the party?”

As part of Whitebeards agreement Ace had attended last night’s fiasco strictly on his orders. The deal was that if the Whitebeard pirates would do a simple favor for him they would release all of their slaves and instead hire indentured servants. As great as that would be Ace had reservations. The nature of the favor had yet to be determined. Whatever it was the government clearly couldn’t do it for them. This most likely meant it was nothing good. Ace was sent to act as Whitebeards ears and report back to him which action they should take. On one hand pirates rarely associated with Tenryuubito mainly because they saw criminals such as pirates beneath them. Still the opportunity to free slaves and piss off the government was not one to be taken lightly. At the very least Whitebeard could listen to the proposal. And thus, Ace was stuck staying with his least favorite people in the universe.

“Yes, I saw many interesting people.” He responded after a moment of careful thought. “Now about that favor?”

The Tenryuubito put up his hand to stop Ace. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, there is plenty of time to talk about that later, why don’t you stay with us for a while and observe.”

Ace’s gaze shifted to the floor as he had to physically bite his tongue to keep himself from asking the man why he didn’t go stuff his head up his ass instead. Then again, with what he assumed to be a giant stick already up there, he doubted there was any excess room.

Taking Ace’s silence as a good sign the man continued. “It would give you a chance to get acquainted with the family.”

That was quite possibly the last thing on earth Ace felt like doing. But he owed Whitebeard big time, how could he refuse an order from his captain. At the very least it would give him more time to get to know Luffy and begin unraveling the faulty persona.

“Wow, how can I possibly argue that?” He asked forcing a laugh. It came out as more of a pathetic squeak but the Tenryuubito hardly seemed to notice. The double meaning was quickly lost.

“I knew you would see it my way.” A slave will come show you to your room.

‘He must really want Pop’s help if he is being nice to me?’ He thought to himself as he turned away. Rather than waiting for a slave he decided to wonder around himself.

He had been here less than a day and he had already gathered Slaves weren’t allowed to walk around freely. Either they tottered around with chains on their ankles carrying out mundane tasks, or even worse they were shackled to a wall and left there.

Ace saw both kinds as he explored the grounds. The frantic ones hurrying to carry out their assigned chores, or the ones who lay against the wall their dead eyes no longer reflecting the world around them. It made Ace shutter as he passed them. Even if they did manage to rescue them he doubted they would be able to have normal lives again.

He continued on, refusing to admit he was lost. It didn’t really matter in the long run. He doubted his position in the giant mansion could lesson his hatred. Making his way further into the depths of the house to his surprise Ace saw a familiar face.

Luffy sat on a large wooden table seemingly in the corner of the room. His ankle was shackled to the table leg, and unlike the party it was locked instead of clipped. Ace was about to make his way over there when he heard footsteps approaching.

Figuring his goalless snooping would not be considered witty and charming he instead opted to duck behind the stone pillar to wait out the intruder. Unfortunately for him it was not another slave, instead it appeared to be an actual worker, payed to keep the slaves in order. Ace considered himself an active hater of these types of people as well. Not only did they choose to support human slavery, they tended to be power hungry and sadistic. To Ace’s horror he stopped in front of Luffy an amused smirk on his face. Leaning as far forward as he dared Ace held his breath.

Still Luffy’s gaze did not shift, his stare was as blank as it was last night. Good to know yesterday’s lessons had already been forgotten. His eyes did not see the slave master in front of him, instead they looked right through him.

Seeing this the man waved his hand in front of Luffy’s eyes trying to get a reaction from the little kid. He clearly did not like being ignored. When Luffy still did not respond he got frustrated slapping the little boys hard across his cheek.

“What are you so fixated on?” He demanded grabbing the little boys chin. “I order you to pay attention to me.” When Luffy didn’t respond or show any indication that he had even heard the man got angry.

He grabbed a candle from the wall while grabbing Luffy’s jaw firmly with his free hand tilting it to the side.

“This will teach you to ignore me.” He muttered angrily.

Ace sensed his intentions the second the wax spilled over. He charged from his hiding place and knocked the man to the floor with a single hit. The man screamed in pain when the candle fell hitting him on his palm. Ace scoffed at him in disgust giving him a light kick to his ribs.

“That will teach you to pick on children.”

The man stared at him wide eyed before picking himself up and fleeing into the corridor and away from Ace. He clearly wasn’t used to people standing up to him, Ace doubted he could handle a fraction of the punishment he so carelessly doled out.

Letting his anger to seep out of him he turned back to Luffy. As gently as he could he brushed the wax off his cheek frowning as Luffy refused to respond. He could see why the Slave master got so enraged. That glassy stare was creepy as hell and it sent chills down Ace’s spine. It was almost like Luffy was just a delicately made toy.

“Luffy, it’s me.” He said softly as he knelt down next to the boy not daring to touch him.

After a few seconds Luffy blinked as the focus came back into his eyes. He stared at Ace for a second while his surroundings fell into place.

“Ace?”

“Welcome back to reality.” Ace said as a his mouth twisted into a relived smile.

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ace and Luffy continue to bond while plans are laid to save the slaves.

After separating from Ace Luffy had quickly been grabbed by the Tenryuubito’s son. A stupid and over grown lard of a man, who seemed to think the entire world was his dollhouse. He favored Luffy over the other slave children because Luffy didn’t break. His rubber body kept him intact no matter how rough the Tenryuubito was with him.

 He was annoyed however, that Luffy had seemingly vanished from the party. Thus he was the one who tethered him here, trapping him against the wall.  Still it was nothing out of the ordinary for him. Luffy simply sat staring ahead at the brick wall imagining it was the sky Ace had shown him last night.

 Beautiful, star streaked and infinite. Luffy hadn’t seen the sky in years, but it was just as vast and amazing as he remembered. No matter how cloudy it was the stars managed to shine through. Below it the ocean reflected its blackness, the rising suns light just barley reflecting on it blackened depths.

At the back of his mind he recognized a slave master making his way over to him. His mouth was moving meaning he must be saying something, but Luffy honestly didn’t care. He continued to imagine to sky and the sea, searing every detail into his mind. Despite his best effort in a few months the picture would fade. Then he would have no choice but to go back to imagining and speculating the weather, imagining what the sky looked like at that moment. If he was lucky enough he might be able to make it to another window as he had at the party. The temptation had been enough for him to disobey orders and leave his place.

Still, the windows in a noble mansion were narrow and limited. They showed only what the nobles wanted them to, and blocked out anything they didn’t want to see. Luffy wanted to see the whole thing as he had last night. To lay out under them and feel comforted by all the stars in the sky.

A sharp burning pain on his cheek threatened to tear him out of his thoughts but he fought against it.

“Luffy it’s me.”

He blinked as the image dissolved around him as he recognized his name being spoken allowed. He focused on the figure in front of him recognizing it instantly.

“Ace?”

The man before him smiled as relief flooded his face. “Welcome back to reality.”

The confused him a bit, he had been here the whole time hadn’t he? Why was Ace welcoming him back when he was the one who had just gotten here?  

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”

Ace and Luffy turned their heads to look at the newcomer. The Tenryuubito’s son, Luffy realized with a sinking feeling as he stomped towards them. He stopped in front of Ace crossing his arm menacingly. Or he tried to, but with such a dorkey appearance he looked more comical then anything. 

“That’s mine.” He said as if Ace had been playing with his toys without his permission.

Ace raised his eyebrow, his expression torn between amused and annoyed.  He could undoubtedly take this man down with any one of his fingers alone, but as much as he would like to that wasn’t in the cards.

“Luffy.” He offered instead.

The nobles frowned stupidly as he was confused. “What?”

“His name is Luffy.” Ace said patiently.

It was Luffy’s turn to be confused. Why was Ace telling the noble, he didn’t care? Ace was wasting his time. If there was one thing this noble hated it was being confused which was unfortunate because he was overly stupid. He watched as the overweight teenager pushed past Ace and made his way to Luffy, unlocking him from the wall.

“I don’t like that name.” He grunted as he wrapped his meaty palm around Luffy’s small underweight ankle, dragging him roughly from the table and onto the floor. Without looking back the noble dragged Luffy away, clearly trying to get away from him.

Luffy twisted slightly so he could look back at Ace. A small part of him wanted him to run after them and save Luffy, like he did that night. But he quickly pushed the thought from his mind, this was different. Not even Ace would dare to defy these people, they were far too powerful.

Still Ace’s lips were moving with no sound coming out. Luffy struggled to understand what he was trying to tell him.

‘Come find me afterwards.’

Luffy nodded before the noble yanked him around a corner and out of sight.

**JKJKJKJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJKJKJKJKJKJKJKRJKRJKJKJKJKJKKJKJKJKJKJKJKJKJKKKJKJKjKJKJKJKJKJKKJKJKJKJKJKHKHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHKKKKKKKKKKKKKKHKHKHKHKHK**

He had been exceedingly rough, he always was. After the noble had taken Luffy away he dragged him to his room, a vast place full of broken toys and the occasional dead eyed servant, being Luffy in this case. He used Luffy as another toy waiting to be played with, tying him to his bed post and having his other toys rescue him in time. Every failed rescue attempt resulted in tightening the ropes painfully.

But no matter how hard he tried Luffy refused to talk to him or even look at him. Finally he gave up and tottered off to bed, not even untidying him.

Luffy puffed his cheeks out in resentment glaring at the sleeping form. The ropes were painfully tight and made it hard to breath. A normal person would have passed out by now. Thankfully the noble wasn’t very good at practical things such as tying knots. They were sloppy and loose, in a place easily accessible to Luffy.

It took him about half an hour to get one arm free, and another hour trying to reach a sharpened toy to saw his way through the rest. But finally he managed to free himself enough to slip out of the ropes and slid out of the room.

He stared down the abandoned hallway thoughtfully. It was very late now, he doubted Ace was still awake. As much as he wanted to sleep he didn’t want to be alone.  Usually he would have stayed tied up until the noble let him go in the morning. The punishment for disobeying was never a gentle one. But this time Luffy was willing to risk it. He didn’t want to have to stay in that room all night struggling to breath, he wanted to go find Ace, the only person who had showed him kindness.

With his mind made up he slipped down the hallway breaking into a run towards the guest rooms.  

Eventually he had found it, only because Ace had left a note on the door for him. Instead of words that he couldn’t read there was simply an untalented sketch of last night’s cloudy sky.

Luffy hesitated for a moment before standing on his tip toes to open the door which to his relief was unlocked. He crept inside careful to close the it behind him.

Ace was sitting on the chair leaning back, he was preoccupied with a snail phone so much so that he didn’t even notice Luffy.

“Yea, he’s making me stay here longer, he refused to tell me what the favor was.” He sighed as he ran his free hand through his hair.

“I hate these people, their all insane. Why on earth did pops send me? I have no tactical patience or subtleness.”

Not knowing what he was talking about Luffy crawled onto the bed laying on his stomach, waiting for him to finish.

Ace turned surprised, his face quickly broke out into a smile as he spotted Luffy.

“Hey Thatch, I’ll call you back later okay.”

Luffy watched him carefully as he hung up the phone. He didn’t seem mad at the intrusion. Instead he joined Luffy on the bed leaning up against the post.

“Hey! How did it go?”

Luffy made a face remembering how bored and uncomfortable he was, he hated it.

“Are you okay, you’re not hurt right?”

Worry flickered in the older boys grey eyes further confusing him. Luffy hadn’t been asked that in a long time.

Unsure how to respond he grabbed his cheek stretching it and letting it snap back to normal. He watched amused as Ace’s eyes went wide with surprise.

“You ate a devil fruit?”

Luffy nodded.

“And now you stretchy.”

He nodded again backing up slightly unsure what Ace would do. To his surprise he did nothing but smile pleased for whatever reason at the revelation.

“I guess that means you must be pretty tough then.”

Before Luffy could respond Ac’s snail phone rang and he jumped up to catch it.

“Sorry, Luffy, I have some work to do, do you mind waiting?”

Luffy shook his head resting him head on his hands as he lay back down. He liked Ace’s room, it was warm and safe. He watched as Ace made calls to different people discussing things Luffy didn’t understand; plans, alliance, double crossing, risks. In the end he just tuned it out, instead choosing to rest on the big bed feeling a strange sensation of fullness despite how hungry he was.

Luffy hadn’t even realized he had fallen asleep until a movement on the bed woke him up. He twisted around to look up at the older male to see if he was angry. But Ace wasn’t even paying attention. Instead he was blowing out the candles and flopped besides Luffy exhausted.

Sensing owlish eyes on him he turned to look at the younger boy, meeting his gaze fully.

“What?”

Luffy frowned trying to form a sentence in his mind, something he hadn’t done in a very long time. “Why are you being nice to me?” He finally asked, carefully pronunciation every syllable correctly.

Ace smirked as he sat up suddenly, excited by the number of words. It was the most Luffy had spoken since meeting him. “I told you, you’re the coolest person here Lu. Why would I want to waste my time talking to the stuck up nobles? Or that creepy slave master who sulks around.”

Luffy had to smile at that, he hated the slave master just as much as Ace did. He sent a shiver down Luffy’s spine every time he saw him.

“Your braver then all of them combined.” Ace promised him, “One day everyone will see that.”

They were silent for a moment each lost in their own thoughts until Ace sat up, suddenly serious. “But you need to listen to me Luffy, you have to stop zoning out so much. It just makes it easier for everyone to walk all over you. Plus it creeps me out.”

Luffy tilted his head not quite understanding what he was talking about.

“I know things might get tough sometimes.” Ace continued, trying to explain it to him. “But you need to stick with it. You have to stay here in the present with all of us, or you are going to miss a lot of things. Even though some of it is bad it’s not always going to be. Sometimes you have to do what you want, raise a little hell and mess with them, show everyone you’re a real person not a toy.”

He blinked his eyes at Ace as he slowly got what he was trying to tell him. He sat up crawling over the bed to where Ace lay and snuggled against his side. He could feel Ace tense up at the sudden contact before relaxing.

For the first time Luffy wondered if Ace might be just as broke as he was, he was just better at hiding it from the world.

“I promise.” He said as he closed his eyes. For the first time in a long time he felt safe and warm. The horrid feeling of loneliness that usually came along with darkness was being kept at bay. Someone was here to break its defining silence.

Unbeknownst to Luffy as he slept soundly Ace lay awake. He stared in amazement at the small child snuggled into his side. He felt a strange emotion tug painfully at his chest. It took him a second to recognize it as protectiveness. He once again felt the urge to grab the sleeping child in his arms and run as far away from here as he could. But that was impossible.

Ace thought back to when he last slept with someone like this. Once upon a time he and Sabo had slept besides each other, the steady breathing of his brother had been enough to lull him back to sleep even after the most brutal of nightmares. He hadn’t realized just how much he missed this. Without realizing what he was doing Ace shifted to his side wrapping his arms securely around the sleeping child. He smiled as he too drifted off to sleep, more peaceful then he had been in quite some time.

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“Are you even listening to me?”

“No.” Luffy told the guard honestly. 

His face turned bright red with anger as he raised his arm to hit the insolent child. But instead of ducking he stood still. When the fist flew by him he camped down his mouth, biting down on the guards hand with a sickening snap.

The man cried instinctually jerking back, trying to force Luffy to let go. Luffy only bit down harder not wanting to get beat again. It wasn’t his fault this guy was being so boring.

It had been nearly two weeks since he had made that promise to Ace. He hadn’t been perfect, Luffy still had a hard time staying in reality. But he had gotten much better. As he had promised he ‘raised a little hell,’ at every opportunity.

So even when the guard dragged him (still clinging to his hand like a leech) down to the punishment cells and threw him in, Luffy didn’t panic. Because sure enough after a few hours Ace came to save him, just like he always did.

 

**Hi! Merry Christmas!! I defiantly had a fun holiday. Thanks to everyone who is reading my story!!!! I have done something I have never done before! I made an outline, except this time I am actually going to follow it! It is going to be around 25 chapters and there is a three year time skip after chapter 8 making Luffy-13/14-ish and Ace-20. I was also right about the dark themes/mature content. Anyways thank you guys so much for reading it.**

After separating from Ace Luffy had quickly been grabbed by the Tenryuubito’s son. A stupid and over grown lard of a man, who seemed to think the entire world was his dollhouse. He favored Luffy over the other slave children because Luffy didn’t break. His rubber body kept him intact no matter how rough the Tenryuubito was with him.

 He was annoyed however, that Luffy had seemingly vanished from the party. Thus he was the one who tethered him here, trapping him against the wall.  Still it was nothing out of the ordinary for him. Luffy simply sat staring ahead at the brick wall imagining it was the sky Ace had shown him last night.

 Beautiful, star streaked and infinite. Luffy hadn’t seen the sky in years, but it was just as vast and amazing as he remembered. No matter how cloudy it was the stars managed to shine through. Below it the ocean reflected its blackness, the rising suns light just barley reflecting on it blackened depths.

At the back of his mind he recognized a slave master making his way over to him. His mouth was moving meaning he must be saying something, but Luffy honestly didn’t care. He continued to imagine to sky and the sea, searing every detail into his mind. Despite his best effort in a few months the picture would fade. Then he would have no choice but to go back to imagining and speculating the weather, imagining what the sky looked like at that moment. If he was lucky enough he might be able to make it to another window as he had at the party. The temptation had been enough for him to disobey orders and leave his place.

Still, the windows in a noble mansion were narrow and limited. They showed only what the nobles wanted them to, and blocked out anything they didn’t want to see. Luffy wanted to see the whole thing as he had last night. To lay out under them and feel comforted by all the stars in the sky.

A sharp burning pain on his cheek threatened to tear him out of his thoughts but he fought against it.

“Luffy it’s me.”

He blinked as the image dissolved around him as he recognized his name being spoken allowed. He focused on the figure in front of him recognizing it instantly.

“Ace?”

The man before him smiled as relief flooded his face. “Welcome back to reality.”

The confused him a bit, he had been here the whole time hadn’t he? Why was Ace welcoming him back when he was the one who had just gotten here?  

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”

Ace and Luffy turned their heads to look at the newcomer. The Tenryuubito’s son, Luffy realized with a sinking feeling as he stomped towards them. He stopped in front of Ace crossing his arm menacingly. Or he tried to, but with such a dorkey appearance he looked more comical then anything. 

“That’s mine.” He said as if Ace had been playing with his toys without his permission.

Ace raised his eyebrow, his expression torn between amused and annoyed.  He could undoubtedly take this man down with any one of his fingers alone, but as much as he would like to that wasn’t in the cards.

“Luffy.” He offered instead.

The nobles frowned stupidly as he was confused. “What?”

“His name is Luffy.” Ace said patiently.

It was Luffy’s turn to be confused. Why was Ace telling the noble, he didn’t care? Ace was wasting his time. If there was one thing this noble hated it was being confused which was unfortunate because he was overly stupid. He watched as the overweight teenager pushed past Ace and made his way to Luffy, unlocking him from the wall.

“I don’t like that name.” He grunted as he wrapped his meaty palm around Luffy’s small underweight ankle, dragging him roughly from the table and onto the floor. Without looking back the noble dragged Luffy away, clearly trying to get away from him.

Luffy twisted slightly so he could look back at Ace. A small part of him wanted him to run after them and save Luffy, like he did that night. But he quickly pushed the thought from his mind, this was different. Not even Ace would dare to defy these people, they were far too powerful.

Still Ace’s lips were moving with no sound coming out. Luffy struggled to understand what he was trying to tell him.

‘Come find me afterwards.’

Luffy nodded before the noble yanked him around a corner and out of sight.

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He had been exceedingly rough, he always was. After the noble had taken Luffy away he dragged him to his room, a vast place full of broken toys and the occasional dead eyed servant, being Luffy in this case. He used Luffy as another toy waiting to be played with, tying him to his bed post and having his other toys rescue him in time. Every failed rescue attempt resulted in tightening the ropes painfully.

But no matter how hard he tried Luffy refused to talk to him or even look at him. Finally he gave up and tottered off to bed, not even untidying him.

Luffy puffed his cheeks out in resentment glaring at the sleeping form. The ropes were painfully tight and made it hard to breath. A normal person would have passed out by now. Thankfully the noble wasn’t very good at practical things such as tying knots. They were sloppy and loose, in a place easily accessible to Luffy.

It took him about half an hour to get one arm free, and another hour trying to reach a sharpened toy to saw his way through the rest. But finally he managed to free himself enough to slip out of the ropes and slid out of the room.

He stared down the abandoned hallway thoughtfully. It was very late now, he doubted Ace was still awake. As much as he wanted to sleep he didn’t want to be alone.  Usually he would have stayed tied up until the noble let him go in the morning. The punishment for disobeying was never a gentle one. But this time Luffy was willing to risk it. He didn’t want to have to stay in that room all night struggling to breath, he wanted to go find Ace, the only person who had showed him kindness.

With his mind made up he slipped down the hallway breaking into a run towards the guest rooms.  

Eventually he had found it, only because Ace had left a note on the door for him. Instead of words that he couldn’t read there was simply an untalented sketch of last night’s cloudy sky.

Luffy hesitated for a moment before standing on his tip toes to open the door which to his relief was unlocked. He crept inside careful to close the it behind him.

Ace was sitting on the chair leaning back, he was preoccupied with a snail phone so much so that he didn’t even notice Luffy.

“Yea, he’s making me stay here longer, he refused to tell me what the favor was.” He sighed as he ran his free hand through his hair.

“I hate these people, their all insane. Why on earth did pops send me? I have no tactical patience or subtleness.”

Not knowing what he was talking about Luffy crawled onto the bed laying on his stomach, waiting for him to finish.

Ace turned surprised, his face quickly broke out into a smile as he spotted Luffy.

“Hey Thatch, I’ll call you back later okay.”

Luffy watched him carefully as he hung up the phone. He didn’t seem mad at the intrusion. Instead he joined Luffy on the bed leaning up against the post.

“Hey! How did it go?”

Luffy made a face remembering how bored and uncomfortable he was, he hated it.

“Are you okay, you’re not hurt right?”

Worry flickered in the older boys grey eyes further confusing him. Luffy hadn’t been asked that in a long time.

Unsure how to respond he grabbed his cheek stretching it and letting it snap back to normal. He watched amused as Ace’s eyes went wide with surprise.

“You ate a devil fruit?”

Luffy nodded.

“And now you stretchy.”

He nodded again backing up slightly unsure what Ace would do. To his surprise he did nothing but smile pleased for whatever reason at the revelation.

“I guess that means you must be pretty tough then.”

Before Luffy could respond Ac’s snail phone rang and he jumped up to catch it.

“Sorry, Luffy, I have some work to do, do you mind waiting?”

Luffy shook his head resting him head on his hands as he lay back down. He liked Ace’s room, it was warm and safe. He watched as Ace made calls to different people discussing things Luffy didn’t understand; plans, alliance, double crossing, risks. In the end he just tuned it out, instead choosing to rest on the big bed feeling a strange sensation of fullness despite how hungry he was.

Luffy hadn’t even realized he had fallen asleep until a movement on the bed woke him up. He twisted around to look up at the older male to see if he was angry. But Ace wasn’t even paying attention. Instead he was blowing out the candles and flopped besides Luffy exhausted.

Sensing owlish eyes on him he turned to look at the younger boy, meeting his gaze fully.

“What?”

Luffy frowned trying to form a sentence in his mind, something he hadn’t done in a very long time. “Why are you being nice to me?” He finally asked, carefully pronunciation every syllable correctly.

Ace smirked as he sat up suddenly, excited by the number of words. It was the most Luffy had spoken since meeting him. “I told you, you’re the coolest person here Lu. Why would I want to waste my time talking to the stuck up nobles? Or that creepy slave master who sulks around.”

Luffy had to smile at that, he hated the slave master just as much as Ace did. He sent a shiver down Luffy’s spine every time he saw him.

“Your braver then all of them combined.” Ace promised him, “One day everyone will see that.”

They were silent for a moment each lost in their own thoughts until Ace sat up, suddenly serious. “But you need to listen to me Luffy, you have to stop zoning out so much. It just makes it easier for everyone to walk all over you. Plus it creeps me out.”

Luffy tilted his head not quite understanding what he was talking about.

“I know things might get tough sometimes.” Ace continued, trying to explain it to him. “But you need to stick with it. You have to stay here in the present with all of us, or you are going to miss a lot of things. Even though some of it is bad it’s not always going to be. Sometimes you have to do what you want, raise a little hell and mess with them, show everyone you’re a real person not a toy.”

He blinked his eyes at Ace as he slowly got what he was trying to tell him. He sat up crawling over the bed to where Ace lay and snuggled against his side. He could feel Ace tense up at the sudden contact before relaxing.

For the first time Luffy wondered if Ace might be just as broke as he was, he was just better at hiding it from the world.

“I promise.” He said as he closed his eyes. For the first time in a long time he felt safe and warm. The horrid feeling of loneliness that usually came along with darkness was being kept at bay. Someone was here to break its defining silence.

Unbeknownst to Luffy as he slept soundly Ace lay awake. He stared in amazement at the small child snuggled into his side. He felt a strange emotion tug painfully at his chest. It took him a second to recognize it as protectiveness. He once again felt the urge to grab the sleeping child in his arms and run as far away from here as he could. But that was impossible.

Ace thought back to when he last slept with someone like this. Once upon a time he and Sabo had slept besides each other, the steady breathing of his brother had been enough to lull him back to sleep even after the most brutal of nightmares. He hadn’t realized just how much he missed this. Without realizing what he was doing Ace shifted to his side wrapping his arms securely around the sleeping child. He smiled as he too drifted off to sleep, more peaceful then he had been in quite some time.

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“Are you even listening to me?”

“No.” Luffy told the guard honestly. 

His face turned bright red with anger as he raised his arm to hit the insolent child. But instead of ducking he stood still. When the fist flew by him he camped down his mouth, biting down on the guards hand with a sickening snap.

The man cried instinctually jerking back, trying to force Luffy to let go. Luffy only bit down harder not wanting to get beat again. It wasn’t his fault this guy was being so boring.

It had been nearly two weeks since he had made that promise to Ace. He hadn’t been perfect, Luffy still had a hard time staying in reality. But he had gotten much better. As he had promised he ‘raised a little hell,’ at every opportunity.

So even when the guard dragged him (still clinging to his hand like a leech) down to the punishment cells and threw him in, Luffy didn’t panic. Because sure enough after a few hours Ace came to save him, just like he always did.

 


End file.
